Conciliar Betrayal of the Mystical Body of Christ

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Philosophy Notes

The Conciliar Hierarchy’s Removal of
Fasting Obligations

When one compares obligatory pre-Vatican II Church discipline to the laxity after Vatican II, we recognize a main cause of the utter destruction of Catholics’ spiritual and moral strength which the previous Church disciplines had engendered.

Some of the Catholic Candle Team had the opportunity to read Pope St. Leo the Great’s sermons regarding the September Ember Days1 and were struck by the wisdom of his edifying admonition to keep well the Ember Days.

Pope St. Leo the Great, a Doctor of the Church,2 expounded on the Church’s beautiful benefits and the important symbolism of having its members keep these appointed fasts together. He makes several forceful arguments why the faithful should fast on common appointed days.

  1. Pope St. Leo the Great tells us that, because man has the wounds of original sin, he is greatly benefitted by wholesome fasting. In other words, fasting is a necessary remedy for man, wounded as he is by Original Sin and his actual sins.

  2. St. Leo says that public services (such as this fasting) are of a higher character than private ones. Here is his explanation:

The fast which the whole Church undergoes leaves out no one from the general purification, and God’s people then become strongest when the hearts of all the faithful meet together in one common act of holy obedience3 when, in the camp of the Christian army, there is on all sides, the same making ready for the fight and for defense. Though the cruel enemy rages in restless fury, and spreads all around his hidden snares, yet he will be able to catch no one and wound no one, if he finds no one off his guard, no one given up to sloth, no one inactive in works of piety.

  1. This faithful and blessed Leo tells us that the September fast calls us in this public way to self-amendment, “that we may lift our souls to the Lord free from worldly cares and earthly concerns”. St. Leo continues:

Let us at least on these days, which are most healthfully ordained for our correction, withdraw ourselves from worldly occupation, and steal a little time for promoting our eternal welfare. … And the fullest abolition of sins is obtained when the whole Church offers up one prayer and one confession. For if the Lord has promised fulfillment of all they shall ask, to the holy and devout agreement of two or three, what shall be denied to many thousands of the people who unite in one act of worship, and with one breath make their common supplication?

  1. This Great Doctor adds that the community of goods and actions is most precious in God’s sight:

It is a great and very precious thing in the Lord’s sight, beloved, when Christ’s whole people engage together in the same duties, and all ranks and degrees of either sex co-operate with the same intent: when one purpose animates all alike to declining from evil and doing good; when God is glorified in the works of His slaves, and the Author of all godliness is blessed in unstinted giving of thanks.

Quoting Scripture, Pope St. Leo tells us:

“Be holy, for I am holy”. That is to say: choose Me and keep from what displeases Me. Do what I love, love what I do. If what I order seems difficult, come back to Me Who order, so, from where the command was given, help might be offered. I, Who furnished the desire, will not refuse support. Fast from contradiction, abstain from opposition. Let Me be your food and drink. None desire in vain what is Mine, for those who stretch out toward Me seek Me because I first sought them.

Thus, St. Leo exhorts his flock as follows:

The four seasons of the year have their allotted time for that same observance of restraint. We continue to know, as the course of the whole year returns, that we are unceasingly in need of purification.

Pope St. Leo is plain in his instruction that we need to do penance for the salvation of our souls. Contrast this with the modern conciliar church which simply strikes from the ecclesiastical law almost all fasting requirements. The post-conciliar hierarchy has betrayed the flock by disregarding what is so crucial for salvation. They contradict what Our Lord said was required to obtain everlasting life. “Unless you do penance, you shall likewise perish.”

The modernists have disregarded the Ember Days and virtually abolished Lenten Fasting, keeping only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The devil knows well that he has won a major victory, working by means of his tools – the conciliar hierarchy!

Let us strive to always strictly keep the old rules for fasting and offer up this sacrifice for the restoration of all things in Christ. This is not the time to do only the minimum of penance! Use the pre-Vatican II rules for fasting and abstinence which are found here: https://catholiccandle.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Traditional-Rules-for-Fast-Abstinance.pdf

Let us not be stingy with God! He is never outdone in generosity!

1 The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia explains:


Ember days (corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times) are the days at the beginning of the seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. They were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday, after Whitsunday, and after 14 September (Exaltation of the Cross). The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding; hence their feriae sementivae, feriae messis, and feri vindimiales. The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose. At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December; the exact days were not fixed but were announced by the priests. The “Liber Pontificalis” ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering the fast, but probably it is older. Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Gelasius (492-496) speaks of all four. This pope also permitted the conferring of priesthood and deaconship on the Saturdays of ember week–these were formerly given only at Easter. Before Gelasius the ember days were known only in Rome, but after his time their observance spread. They were brought into England by St. Augustine; into Gaul and Germany by the Carlovingians. Spain adopted them with the Roman Liturgy in the eleventh century. They were introduced by St. Charles Borromeo into Milan. The Eastern Church does not know them. The present Roman Missal, in the formulary for the Ember days, retains in part the old practice of lessons from Scripture in addition to the ordinary two: for the Wednesdays three, for the Saturdays six, and seven for the Saturday in December. Some of these lessons contain promises of a bountiful harvest for those that serve God.


2 He is also referred to as Pope St. Leo I. He reigned from 440 to 461 A.D.


3 Notice that Pope St. Leo puts the greater focus on the obedience of this public fast rather than the bodily mortification of it. This is because the most important element of fasting (when we fast according to the Church’s rules and schedule rather than at times of our own choosing), is that we are obeying and are being directed by the Church’s commandment, not by our own will and preference.

Even in our times of infidelity and laxness, we can still benefit from this element of obedience (in some way) when we fast on the traditional days of fasting because they were chosen by the Church, not by us, so that we submit our will to the Church’s traditional directives.

This submission of our will is a greater sacrifice than the sacrifice of the food itself which we deny to our bodies, because our submission of our higher power (our will) is a greater sacrifice than is the submission of our lower nature (viz., our body) when we choose our own days on which to undertake a private fast.

Thus, the unfaithful post-conciliar hierarchy harmed Catholics by removing the fasting requirements because (predictably) most Catholics will not fast if they are not required to do so. But even worse is the harm these conciliar hirelings inflicted by removing Catholics’ exercise of virtue and the merit of the obedience by following the Church’s specific fasting requirements.